Social media, entertainment publications and MCU fans are in shock regarding Marvel’s ‘Eternals‘ getting such poor ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. The upcoming superhero film has dropped to a rating of 61% from around 106 critics reviews on the reviews aggregator website. This makes ‘Eternals’ the lowest-rated Marvel movie ever, beating previous lowest rated ‘Thor: Dark World’. This is now, when the film hasn’t released yet. The scene will likely be worse when the film premieres in theatres on November 5, and more critics review it globally.
This brings us to the question – why is ‘Eternals’ getting such hate from critics? The most significant reason that is apparent from analysing the 90 reviews is that the new Marvel movie is not “Marvel” enough. It dares to break the template of what constitutes a Marvel film, and forges its own unique path of storytelling. While that should ideally be a reason to celebrate the film, ‘Eternals’ is instead getting negative feedback for the same.
Besides this, most critics have felt that ‘Eternals’ packs in a lot of exposition, melodrama and too much stuff into one movie. The Guardian describes it as “magic hour meets PowerPoint in Chloe Zhao’s Marvel yarn”. Some critics say that the script is messy and all over the place. Some have pointed out the lack of humour – a must-have in every Marvel movie up till now. And finally, a lot of critics have blamed the insipid script for the blunder that is Eternals.
The poor reviews for ‘Eternals’ can be understood by understanding the grouses that critics have with ‘Eternals’. Top critic Dana Stevens of Slate writes, “Eternals is one of the weakest Marvel movies I’ve seen, meandering and wan. It takes place over a vast timespan in locations all over the globe (and the galaxy), yet it has the curiously claustrophobic feel of a Saturday afternoon serial filmed entirely in a windowless studio.”
The Guardian says, “Eternals lacks the breezy wit of Marvel’s best movies.”
The San Francisco Chronicle says, “Eternals” is like a movie about a horse race that concentrates all its attention on characters that neither own a horse nor like to gamble.”
Rolling Stone writes, “In the latest MCU movie, sexy superheroes care more about their own melodramas than the humans they’re supposed to be saving”.
The Sun’s review reads, “Hiring a writer-director who specialises in muted, documentary-like dramas for an action spectacular about gaudily-costumed interstellar demigods may not have been the wisest choice.”
It continues, “Eternals is more serious in tone and more deliberate in its pacing than the average Marvel movie, with less of the usual banter and no cameo appearances by other superheroes.”
A particularly caustic review reads, “It’s ugly, charisma-free, dour, overlong, exposition-heavy, patronizing, and, worst of all, it has none of the heart even feinted at by the least successful films within the MCU canon.”
Another critic writes, “A disappointment of cosmic proportions, Eternals never takes off due to a pedestrian script that wastes a galaxy of talent.”
Reading these snippets of critics reviews, the reasons for the poor ratings for Eternals become amply clear. Will you watch Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ in the theatres when it premieres on November 5? Tell us in the comments below.
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